Narco Dealer A drug trafficker displays his product at a clandestine cocaine lab in the jungle. The FARC makes millions from the drug trade.Photo Alvaro Ybarra Zavala

Amazonas, 10-05-10.- An operation against a drug gang allowed Brazilian police to arrest the Colombian José Samuel Sánchez, a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, considered a senior operative and member of the committee of finance and logistics of the guerrilla group.

Brazilian Federal Police arrested Sanchez, along with four other Brazilians and three Colombians in the jungle state of Amazonas. After the capture of the group, the Brazilian police identified Sanchez as a member of the FARC, which also has an arrest warrant in his country, where authorities accuse him of murder, kidnapping and extortion, the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported in São Paulo.

Sanchez would be part of the finance committee and logistics of the FARC, authorities said, according to the Brazilian press, contributing to the financing of the FARC through drug trafficking activities Sanchez is also suspected to be the second in command and logistics responsible of the Front 22 of the Colombian guerrilla group.

The arrest occurred near Manaus, Amazon’s main city. “The important thing is to see that the FARC drug operation involved and introduced a man of their confidence in Brazil,” said the head of the Federal Police in Amazonas, Sergio Fontes. To transport the drug to Brazil, the guerrilla group uses the Amazon Rivers.

During the operation, federal police seized 45 kilograms of cocaine and destroyed a camp near the frontier with Colombia, which reportedly was used by drug traffickers.

According to reports, Sanchez was sending food and medicine shipments from Brazil to the FARC camps, and was the owner of a refrigerator for fish used as a cover to carry drugs in between the goods , “from the Colombian border to Manaus. The drug introduced in Brazil by Sanchez , was to end in the U.S. market and Europe.